1983 Truck bombing in Beirut kills 241 U.S. Marines. U.S Embassy
in Beirut bombed by Islamic extremists. 23 March:President Reagan
announces the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).1 September:Soviet
fighter jets shoot down Korean civilian airliner KAL 007.1984 4 January:National Security Council issues National Security
Council Directive 17, approving CIA assistance to the Contra rebels in
Nicaragua. March:CIA officer William Buckley taken hostage by ter-
rorists in Lebanon; is subsequently murdered. November:Iran sounds
out U.S. through intermediaries about possibility of ransoming hostages
in Lebanon in exchange for weapons. U.S. government covertly ships
weapons to Iran in exchange for hostages held in Lebanon.1985 July:Iran secretly makes known to U.S. that it would exert its in-
fluence on extremists in Lebanon to release hostages in exchange for arms.
August–September:First shipment of weapons to Iran by Israel; one
hostage released. December:President Reagan calls off arms sales to Iran.1986 Congress enacts the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense
Reorganization Act. 17 January:President Reagan signs “finding” or-
dering resumption of arms sales to Iran from U.S. stocks. 2 November:
Lebanese newspaper in Beirut reveals the arms-for-hostages deal. 1 De-
cember:President Reagan authorizes the Tower Commission to inves-
tigate the Iran-Contra Affairs.1988 18 March:Indictment of Iran-Contra personalities.1990 August:Iraq invades Kuwait.1991 Soviet Union dissolves. January:The Persian Gulf War. Fed-
eral Bureau of Investigation establishes the National Security Threat
List (NSTL). 8 March:Second version of LACROSSE radar imaging
satellite launched. May:President George H. W. Bush signs “finding”
for covert operations in Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein. (Clinton
administration initially discontinues program but then reactivates it in
face of congressional pressure.) 1 July:Warsaw Pact disbanded.1992 Intelligence Community Staff (ICS) becomes the Community
Management Staff (CMS).1993 Defense Intelligence College renamed Joint Military Intelligence
College (JMIC). American peacekeepers killed in Somalia. President’sCHRONOLOGY• xxxiii05-398 (1) FM.qxd 10/20/05 6:14 AM Page xxxiii